Writer Elaine Morgan has died at age 92. Perhaps best known for her book The Descent of Woman, at TEDGlobal 2009 she made her case for the “aquatic ape hypothesis” — an admittedly non-standard idea about human origins. Earlier this year, in TheGuardian, Erika Milam offered a compelling new take on Morgan’s place in scientific discourse — suggesting it “may tell us more about the fraught relationship between feminism and science than it does about the evolution of humanity.”

Bertrand Piccard’s (watch his talk) solar plane just completed a flight from California to New York. The next step: a round-the-world flight planned for 2015. But there is a challenge — the fact that the cockpit only fits a single pilot with no room for food, water or other necessities. As Piccard’s partner Andre Borschberg explained to Ars Technica, “The weak link is the pilot. The pilot is not sustainable yet.”

TED Radio Hour has been named one of “5 Podcasts Every Millennial Should Listen To” by PolicyMic.

This article from Business Insider Australia illustrates the international reach of TEDx Talks. In it, writer Vivian Giang piggybacks on an argument made by Canadian restaurateur-turned-professor Bruce McAdams in his TEDx Talk (watch it here). His idea: that the relationship between tipping and the quality of the service has become very insignificant. Hers: That we should move toward getting rid of tipping.

Book designer Chip Kidd (watch his talk) works at a desk that looks a whole lot like a bookstore. The designer was featured this week in the Buzzfeed post “40 Inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative.” We adore his computer screen smothered in Post-it notes, and the way he’s surrounded himself by volumes of visual covers.

Chip Kidd’s desk. The man sure loves books.

At TED2009, Bonnie Bassler described how bacteria ‘talk.’ (Watch the talk.) It seems that bacteria may also have also been whispering in the ears of researchers at LMU. As this article from Phys.org reports, these researchers have identified a bacterial cell-cell communication system.

TED’s own June Cohen appears in the Fast Company article “11 Little-Known Apps That Entrepreneurs Can’t Live Without.” A blurb introduces June and tells readers why she loves Video DownloadHelper, “a fabulously useful little Firefox plug-in/add-on that lets you easily download video from any website.”

Several post-TEDGlobal 2013 essays appeared this week from attendees. In a piece posted on his blog, Bruce Bassett describes the overwhelming intensity of TEDGlobal — and the feeling of depression that comes with its end. He writes, “The intense sense of community and shared aspirations that exists at TEDGlobal in a brief island in space and time is like being inside a Star Trek movie in which humanity has reached above pettiness and war, and found a higher mission based on exploration and federation.” Meanwhile, Henrik Ahlen gives a rundown of TEDGlobal for Alfa Bravo, looking at every aspect of from the conference from the attendees, to the talks he found most interesting, to the badges His conclusion: “Inspiration overload!”

Isn’t it possible that our ancestors did just enough swimming and diving to change our phenotypes? This theory would also explain carnivorous behavior if these primates had to dive for fish to live. I like it. — Jake via Facebook

I actually like the last invention the most. Will the future AI see and interact in this form? Its kinda like a dawn of Terminator. — Lee

On Alain de Botton’s talk: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success:
Alain just put in words what I and many of my friends have been experiencing.
I am out of work now but instead of feeling sorry for myself I am looking at how to use my executive management experience to launch a business that is more true to my dreams. — Tammy via Facebook

Alain’s writing has always been such an amazing insight into human nature… He so eloquently puts our thoughts and subconscious into words. I was excited to hear his TED talk and it certainly wasn’t a disappointment! In person, he’s even wittier than his books… If that’s possible?!? Thank you Alain and thank you TED! — Emma via Facebook

Thanks to all of you for your insightful reactions.

]]>http://blog.ted.com/the_week_in_com_8/feed/1tedblogguestDid we evolve from aquatic apes? Elaine Morgan on TED.comhttp://blog.ted.com/did_we_evolve_f/
http://blog.ted.com/did_we_evolve_f/#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2009 11:43:40 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/07/did_we_evolve_f/[…]]]>Elaine Morgan is a tenacious proponent of the aquatic ape hypothesis: the idea that humans evolved from primate ancestors who dwelt in watery habitats. Hear her spirited defense of the idea — and her theory on why mainstream science doesn’t take it seriously. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2009, July 2009 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 17:13)

So four days of TED — what have I learnt? What a card flourisher is, that Stephen Fry thinks it’s absurd when people ask where he watched the moon landing (either on his TV set or from the lunar lander, surely?), that even TED speakers like to drop a bit of dubious life-affirming psychology into their talks, and that the best theremin player lives in Oxford (Lydia Kavina, granddaughter of the instrument’s inventor. …

It’s true, it’s addictive learning new things at TED. There’s Garik Israelian, a spectroscopist who explains why he believes that we will find signs of extraterrestrial life within 10 years. Then there’s Rebecca Saxe’s remarkable talk on the RPTJ region of the brain which, if targeted with a magnetic pulse, can actually change people’s moral judgments.

In a surprising impromptu performance, crowd favorite Emmanuel Jal kicked up the afterparty with an electrifying act that transformed TEDsters into a mosh pit of dancers doing Jal’s signature dance in sync and singing his chorus for a phenomenal collective experience. …

Session 8 – In the Shadows A dark and scary session. Taryn Simon showed her superb but unsettling photographs of forbidden or hidden places and of wrongly-convicted people; Misha Glenny gave a tour (de force) of his amazing McMafia book, scaring the pants off me (organised crime is 18% of global GDP!!); Ed Burtynsky showed photographs of man’s effect on land; Loretta Napoleoni suggested that terrorism had indirectly caused the credit crunch (US flooded the market with bonds to fund the $7bn war on terror, so interest rates were artificially reduced to increase yields, leading to the sub-prime market); and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal rapped for peace and had the whole house dancing and in tears at the same time. …

Chikwe Ihekweazu has started the blog Multiple Stories to collect his thoughts about TEDGlobal 2009. The name of his blog is inspired by Chimamanda Adichie’s talk on Thursday night, where she talked about “the vital importance of multiple stories in making sense of our shared humanity”:

Okay..I’ll confess…I struggled with some sessions – Astronomer Garik Israelian’s talk on Wednesday about spectroscopy – the art of examining the spectral signature of a distant object in the universe, and inferring its qualities and behaviours – must have been excellent. But with my simple brain trying to figure out how to solve the apparently simple problems of the continent I call home….it was challenging.

… Even better were presentations solicited with a view to the topic that might never have otherwise seen the light of TED: The astronomer Andrea Ghez positing the existence of a black hole at the center of our galaxy — and every other galaxy in the universe. The photographer Taryn Simon presenting images of off-limit facilities — a place where white tigers are bred, the rooms at JFK airport where contraband is stashed — then proceeding even deeper into the heart of darkness with a portrait series of men who were imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. …

The talks were delivered in the Oxford Playhouse, and I kept thinking “This is my last attempt to get anyone to listen. If I can’t put my ideas across to this lively, open-minded young audience, I may as well throw in the sponge and take up flower arranging.”

Comment below or email the TED Blog (subject: “TEDGlobal Roundup”) to add your work to this list — and we’ll add more as we find them.

Why is the human phenotype so different from the chimpanzee, even though experts constantly point out how similar the genotypes are? Why are we bipedal while they walk on four legs? Why are we hairless while they are hairy? Elaine Morgan seeks to look beyond what she thinks are the utterly incorrect answers proposed by evolutionary biologists. If we’re so different than the other higher primates, something must have happened to make us so. So: what happened?

Morgan is intrigued by evidence that shows that savannah habitats — long thought to be a driving force behind the way humans evolved — didn’t exist at the time when the adaptations happened. This indicated that a paradigm was about to radically change. She says, What do scientists do when paradigms fail? They continue working on the paradigm as though nothing happened!

But finally a new paradigm was about to emerge. In the ’60s, a scientist wondered whether human evolution was shaped by a more “aquatic” lifestyle. But the idea was ridiculed by scientists for years — although now the theory is beginning to enjoy some favor. There is a set of questions that, in particular, throw doubt on the conventional story of human evolution:

Why are we hairless? The other mammals that are hairless are mostly aquatic — dolphins, whales. But what about elephants?, we might ask. Morgan says it’s been discovered that elephant ancestors were aquatic. While not all aquatic mammals are naked, like seals, all animals that are naked have so far been discovered to have had aquatic ancestors.

Why are we bipedal? There is only one situation in the mammalian world where mammals walk around on two legs: when they are in water.

Why do we have the layer of fat under our skins, unlike other primates? Aquatic mammals include a layer of fat, and a layer of skin. Humans can become obese in a way that is physically impossible for other primates.

Why can we control our breath? The only animals with conscious control of the breath are animals that spend time in water.

Why do we have streamlined bodies? Perhaps, Morgan suggests, to optimize us for mobility in water.

Morgan has struggled her whole life to show that perhaps the prevailing theory of human origins is wrong. After all, she says, history is riddled with instances where theories proved to be wrong. She says Dan Dennett, David Attenborough and other prominent scientists and thinkers have come to agree that the aquatic ape theory is important. To laughter and applause, she encourages TED to “come on in, the water’s fine.”

Morgan looks forward to a new point in science where conventional ideas about human evolution can be synthesized with the aquatic ape theory — but, for now, the “rival” theories live apart.

]]>http://blog.ted.com/elaine_morgan_a/feed/7matthewtoastelaine_morgan.jpgTwitter Snapshot: Elaine Morgan believes in aquatic apeshttp://blog.ted.com/twitter_snapsho_42/
http://blog.ted.com/twitter_snapsho_42/#commentsWed, 22 Jul 2009 13:08:25 +0000http://blog-staging.ted.com/2009/07/twitter_snapsho_42/[…]]]>Octogenarian scientist Elaine Morgan became the oldest speaker in TED’s history (at the sprightly age of 90) at TEDGlobal 2009 when she presented her addition to evolutionary science: the theory of aquatic apes. Here’s how the excited crowd on Twitter responded to her vibrant talk: